A herd sire from Louwcoe Charolais in the eastern Free State will soon be heading to its new home in Cameroon for crossbreeding with that country’s local cows.
By Johan Norval
The bull Frasier CB 230100 was the top-priced animal at Louwrens Viljoen’s production auction, held on 8 July on the farm Skatkis near Vryburg. He sold for R300 000 to Ibrahim Abba, executive director of Sawaawre Farming in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon.
Abba is an active investor in South African cattle genetics and regularly acquires top Limousin and Simbra breeding stock to produce profitable crossbreeds that are resistant to ticks under West African conditions.
The Southern African market is highly regarded, and Charolais bulls are widely used as herd sires for terminal crossbreeding on indigenous cows to improve hybrid vigour and carcass weight.
Viljoen’s Louwcoe herd, run along the Lesotho border, has been known since 1967 for its pure white colour, excellent growth and superior weight gain. He owns the largest Charolais herd in the country and has bred several champion bulls and Elite Platinum cows that have represented the breed in SA Stud Book competitions.
The Charolais bull CB 200119, Louwcoe Daniel, was named the Vleissentraal and SA Stud Book winner of the bull growth test class at the Bloem Show in 2024. His sire is Louwcoe Ambrose, which represented the breed in the Elite bull growth test class in 2021.
The entire offering of 26 bulls was sold at an average price of R105 192. Three lots achieved prices of more than R200 000 each.
The heifer Garrielle CB 240019 was the top-priced female, selling for R60 000 to Billy Slabbert of GS Boerdery near Kuruman. Open stud heifers averaged R38 000, while pregnant commercial heifers averaged R17 000.
Viljoen said this was his best auction to date. The turnover was R2,883 million.
The auction was presented by Karoo-Ochse Vryburg in collaboration with the Meerkat platform. Steven Mathews was the auctioneer.
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